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GG with Ashid in front of Al Tryptich

This is the triptych I am doing at the Yellow House. Ashid is always there helping me along. The three canvases are probably a few weeks from finished . The Triptych has come out of my visits to the 342 AD Buddhist caves on the other side of the Kabul river and also from studying the mythology behind stories people tell their children, here. The left and right panels refer to the Buddahs which have all been destroyed or lost from this place . I have come to believe that Afghanistan will never know peace until it recognises its female side and this links to the Buddhist History people deny . Not only the buildings and statues have been destroyed but, also , the memory of the Buddhist past. In the local stories the Al which is pronounced Owl is the worst of all demons …. its feet are reversed and it has snakes for hair . It specializes in attacking women and unborn infants. Women put iron around their houses to protect themselves from the Al . The centre of this triptych shows my interpretation of the Al , between the two transcendent Buddhas – the hope is that war will not always dominated centre stage and Peace will return as it did durning the era of the Buddhists.The little bronze Buddha I am holding is a very old Afghan relic …. the eyes of the Cobras are silver as are the seated Buddha’fins titties . I do not think I will ever be able to get it or my bronze Ganesh (elephant headed deity) out of the country. Since they have managed to survive through these last few anti Buddhist centuries I think it would be wrong to try taking them out and will have to find somewhere safe to place them.